by Sue Horner | Aug 5, 2020 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
So, you need to write about something important. The problem is, it’s boring or routine. You know the topics. They’re necessary, but they aren’t the sexiest. Safety reminders, maybe, or a potentially dry explanation of a (zzzz….) process...
by Sue Horner | Jul 31, 2020 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Do you want to explain something, make a point or maybe just spark a laugh? Give readers and listeners a shortcut to understanding by reaching for similes, which use “like” or “as” to show how two things are alike. (Metaphors do the same thing...
by Sue Horner | Jul 23, 2020 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
No doubt you’ve lost count of the number of times the word “unprecedented” has come your way in the past few months. It’s a go-to word for newspaper headlines, concerned emails and earnest messages from CEOs, marketers and politicians. Google Trends shows little...
by Sue Horner | Jul 16, 2020 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Thanks to the pandemic, we’re not getting together in person much anymore. So what’s a marketer to do? Writer, digital marketer and huge newsletter fan Ann Handley calls this “a time to build relationships, nurture customers, and create long-term loyalty.” In her...
by Sue Horner | Jul 3, 2020 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Is your head spinning to realize that 2020 is half over? (And thank goodness for that, although I’m still a little nervous about the murder hornets, the second wave of COVID-19 and other coming attractions.) That means it’s time for a backward look at the most-viewed...
by Sue Horner | Jun 25, 2020 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
You’ve created a terrific article, blog post, marketing email or other sparkly bit of content. Now, how do you entice people to read it? Start with an appealing headline. But wait, please don’t reach for a “clickbait” headline. You know, the ones that use...
by Sue Horner | Jun 20, 2020 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
My car insurance renewal arrived this week, and in (ahem) an “unprecedented” situation, it was good news for me – it’s less than it was last year. Of course, it should be. The Ontario government has pressured major insurance companies to lower auto rates...
by Sue Horner | Jun 11, 2020 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Are you getting a little tired of all this ramping up that’s been going on since the start of the pandemic? Testing, in particular, is always being ramped up, or there are calls for it to be ramped up. You might say the use of ramping up is itself ramping up. (Sorry.)...
by Sue Horner | Jun 4, 2020 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
This week, black boxes like the one here flooded social media. It began when music-industry veterans Jamila Thomas and Brianna Agyemang asked the industry to “pause” work on June 2 in solidarity with the Black community, and to protest the killing of George Floyd,...
